Most cities and counties declared a day off work and school though the island's capital, Taipei, home to financial markets, was not affected and was operating as normal.

Taipei has reported a rise in military activity in recent weeks, including exercises on land facing the island.

Taiwan has made the indigenous sub programme a key part of an ambitious project to modernise its armed forces as Beijing stages almost daily military exercises to assert its sovereignty.

Taiwan has reported an increase in such activity during the past week, as dozens of fighters, drones, bombers and other aircraft, as well as warships, have operated nearby.

China staged war games around Taiwan in August of last year and again in April, and its forces operate around the island almost daily.

China has in recent years regularly carried out military drills around the island as it seeks to assert its sovereignty claims and pressure Taipei.

Taiwan's democratically elected government strongly rejects China's sovereignty claims, and says only Taiwan's people can decide their future.

Taiwan's defence ministry said that Chinese warplanes, including J-10 fighters, had flown into the southwestern corner of the island's air defence identification zone.

Democratically-governed Taiwan, which China views as its own territory, has complained in recent years of stepped up Chinese military activities near the island as Beijing seeks to assert its sovereignty claims.

China has criticised Japan, the US and other Western nations for adopting what it calls a Cold War mentality.

China staged war games around Taiwan in August of last year and again in April, and its forces operate around the island almost daily.

Haikui made landfall in the mountainous and sparsely populated far southeast of Taiwan, the first typhoon to directly hit Taiwan in four years.